There is an alternate universe out there where you’ve just uploaded a photo to Instagram from your Lumia 920 or HTC 8X – it was probably a picture of your brunch with a grungy filter, but that isn’t the case is it? Someday Instagram will come, but we might not really care if Molome beats them to the punch.

We first mentioned Molome on Windows Phone Central back in September. It’s similar to Instagram – in that it is a photo sharing app and social network, a point a lot of people seem to miss when they dismiss Instagram. But Molome also seems to bring some features to the table that are unique and fun, like badges and photo of the day. If you’re a Foursquare you’re probably very familiar with how badges work, basically little trophies/achievements that you unlocked for doing different things within the app. That gamification can help differentiate Molome from other photo sharing social sites.

So Molome is currently available to users on Symbian, Android, BlackBerry and MeeGo, but Windows Phone will be joining that list shortly. At least we’re fairly positive. We’ve got an image that leads us to believe the app is nearly completion. The founder of Molome, Sittiphol Phanvilai, recently shared a picture to this platform showing a teaser of what looks like a Windows Phone version of Molome. The giveaway being the Windows Phone panaroma view and the fact that he just had a meeting with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop.

We’ve reached out to Sittiphol Phanvilai and will update you guys if we learn anything else about the status and plans for Molome on Windows Phone.

Doesn't matter. It could be the best app ever implemented but its not instagram. People want to just say I have instagram, I take pictures of food and things then I post them for millions to see And then I go save the world!!

I think a name can prove to be just as important to popularity as the app itself. Molome vs Instagram. Instagram just seems more "fun" (I don't use Instagram by the way). As far as Molome.. what does that even mean? Molome doesn't seem to be a word. Is it Molo Me? If it is, what does molo mean? Look up in the urban dictionary for molo and you will find it to be not so complimentary. Names are important.. Developers (just like parents) need to think things through before naming their baby.

Yes but people keep forgetting that myspace was the king, twitter was the king and so on. Eventually legends die. Facebook and instagram will be gone eventually and something has to line up to takes its place.

As an active Instagram user (when I have a device its available for) I can attest that there is more than today's lunch being posted. At least by the people in my circle and just those I follow in general.

Do you follow more people than your irl friends? Do you actually use the filters? How is it different the pictures on twitter or Facebook? Honest questions, never used it, but have seen enough lunches to believe the stereotype.

I see sports teams post entire galleries of different athletes for one which a reason I would want it. Also it reminds me of what FB used to be quick and easy and not full of links just pictures and some thoughts. Its also great to see multiple pictures from an event because of the hashtag implementation.

As far as the people I follow outside of my circle of friends and family, its mostly celebrities. Snoop Dogg (or Snoop Lion) has to be the most active person on Instagram. I also follow random people that im not really sure why. Probably found their pictures interesting. I have random people following me as well. I do use the filters.

And as far as the difference between posting on Facebook or Twitter, I'm not sure how to answer that question. And I say that because you can ask that of any social networking site and Its really, at the end of the day, what you are using those sites for. I use Facebook mostly keep up with family and friends I don't get to see or talk to often. I use Twitter to share my opinions on a number of things and to get breaking news (mostly entertainment related) that might pop up there first. And Instagram to see quick and simple snaps from other friends. Not all friends post their pics to Facebook or are even on Facebook.

I don't care so much about the filters or sharing my own photos. I did, but what interested me more were the folks I followed. NatGeo had some amazing staff photogs that would post behind the scenes stuff. I'm a huge SF Giants and SF 49er fan and their Instagram's were simply astounding. They posted some absolutly stunning photos that you would normally never get to see. This is the part of Instagram most naysayers miss. The filters...meh, I shoot film and can achieve that look ( I do love Lomogram tho) but it''s the way some people use it that makes it awesome.

They haven't failed and have been doing great for 3 years. MOLOME has 1.5 million downloads from Nokia Store alone on Symbian and is available for iOS and Android.
It's especially popular in Asia and partly in Europe.

They have failed. MySpace has a bigger user base. But they are not a Facebook competitor. This is not a instagram competitor. This is something to use if you don't have instagram available. Also, Symbian is a dying platform, who cares about how many users are downloading it.

Exactly. And My Space was already big before the Facebook "knock off" got huge. Not saying the same will necessarily happen here, just saying you can't declare something "failed" just because there is already something big around.

But the question here is what you name as a fail? By that nobody here should be here as WP is then a fail already.
Nokia had to stop whole developement of Symbian 2 years ago, and just till last quarter Nokia was still selling more Symbian phones.... from a platform that was announced dead 2 years ago and no devices have been made for 8 months. That is a fail of anything.

Molome has done great and survived for 3 years with 10 million active users from BB, Android, Symbian and soon WP. I would not call that fail. It's a one man project that is increasing its users. I don't even get when instagram was brought up by me?

They are in business. If they are happy with their user base, that's just dandy. But calling them a IG competitor isn't correct. Apple's computer section is not a competitior to Windows, they lost that battle a long long time ago, Steve Jobs even admitted it. But they are a alternative to Windows. Apple has been in business a long long time, and make lots of money off their computers. But they can't compete with Windows.

1jaxstate1...Please educate yourself, or at least read the article. This is a cross platform app, and is still being downloaded by Symbian users which has a huge userbase. As a matter of fact, I just downloaded it for my N8 to check it out.

I am in the US, and have a N8; while my Lumia 900 is my daily driver, I just downloaded this app on my N8 to see what it was about. Regardless of geography, the app is popular with Symbian users (still), and it is a cross platform app for Blackberry, Android, Meego, and soon, Windows Phone.

At the end of the day, it is just a cross platform alternative to Instagram - at the time the app was released on these platforms, Instagram was not available on said platforms...

I like the sound of this app for the Windows Phone platform, but I do agree that if it isn't on Andorid & iOS it won't be compeating against Instagram, if/when this app is avalible on their platforms I could see this overtaking Instagram unless they introduce an achievment system as well, I find getting badges for things gives you a reason to come back to the application, but I don't personally see the point in instagram as I can take a normal picture and edit it using a 3rd party application, that gives me more options to make a picture look awesome!...the only reason that Instagram is popular is because of it's social network eliments, nothing on there is orignal or creative.

Instagram at this point is about the user base, like someone else mentioned. WP has Fhotoroom, which is okay but fact remains most mobile users are on IOS and Android and I like being able to share (without other noise that twitter and Facebook has) with friends across platforms.

I actually like Fhotoroom. The only hang up is none of my friends are on it cause none if them has a Windows Phone. And there aren't any celebrities (that I know of) on there either. But its quality app/service and will continue to support those guys even if Instagram does make it to WP.

I think, to piggyback off of TonyDedric,k Instagram is kind of just Instagram because its "Instagram". Truthfully Fhotoroom isn't trying to be it, it is flat out different. In some ways I think its better. Instagram, or at least 75% of it, is mainly about the social part of it with tweegrams and memes and people just using it the exact way as people use Twitter. Its gotten superfluous and annoying. Fhotoroom is moreso about taking pictures that are actually generally interesting. The filters offer more customization and I feel like a lot of the Fhotoroom user base doesn't only take pictures with the camera on their phone and may have traditional experience in photography.

i hope this app is released soon and does really well. but I'll reserve judgement for now. there are a few photo shring apps out there like Mobli, which I use and is available on all platforms including Windows 8. But I never see it mentioned.

Good observation. I think Nokia would love to pimp some Lumia exclusive photo apps when they launch some crazy imaging technology - like the rumored 41mp device. If Instagram were to come to the platform, I'd bet that Nokia makes it a Lumia exclusive too.

Apparently "LifeClip", another Instagram-alike is also comming. Though it's not clear if they'll release Apps for Android and Windows Phone like they have in iOS, or if it will stop at the development of a mobile page (which honestly no one cares about with the current stage of data compressor systems)

When I read "it was probably a picture of of your brunch with a grungy filter" I started laughing as I scrolled up to see who wrote this article I assumed it was Dan but I was wrong nice article Sam!! I wouldn't mine using this app just because it isn't instagram

Hrm... this is actually not nearly as crazy as some might think. Seeing as Nokia is rumored to be working on a 41mp monster of a camera, and they are really pushing the imaging side of cell phones. This would be a very interesting acquisition. I can see it happening, especially since Molo is just one guy running it. Personally I would like to see it happen and rebrand it a bit. It's branding is too hyperactive 15yr old ish to me. (I know I'm terrible and superficial)

I don't understand the hype of Instagram, so please correct me if I'm wrong: Instagram is something like twitter but instead of words they only tweet pictures, and there are hashtags, channels and you can follow basically anyone + you can filter your photos into old looking way.
If this is it, why don't they use twitter, for some time now it supports pictures, ofc without the filters but you can do that on your own with little websites or softwares. Why do we need a separate service?
What's intriguing is that..
In the past when social networking was not so developed, people complained about missing features of a particular service, when these services developed and had about all, like for example fb where you can post a status(twitter)+photo(instagram)+clip(music myspace alike) then people started to want each activity separated.
What is more chaotic is that now each service can be linked with another, on twitter you can connect your fb account and vice-versa and maybe on instagram the same will happen. So when someone posts something you will see the update on twitter, facebook, myspace, foursquare and maybe soon instagram. The same info on 5 websites!

u just have to experience instagram by yourself first. If you dont like it or dont want to use it, there are millions more peoples who want to use it. In fact, my friends who use android and iphone really love wp but they don't want to make the switch due to the lack of apps especially instagram because they use it every hour!
It is always better to bring more apps especially the one peoples wanted the most so that it can attract peoples who intend to switch to the platform. good for microsoft, good for developers, good for the users.
cheers

I don't care so much about the filters or sharing my own photos. I did, but what interested me more were the folks I followed. NatGeo had some amazing staff photogs that would post behind the scenes stuff. I'm a huge SF Giants and SF 49er fan and their Instagram's were simply astounding. They posted some absolutly stunning photos that you would normally never get to see. This is the part of Instagram most naysayers miss. The filters...meh, I shoot film and can achieve that look ( I do love Lomogram tho) but it''s the way some people use it that makes it awesome.

I'm with you "unfortunately." I just don't get it. People link their Instagram and Twitter to Facebook and I see doubled posts.Plus, I'm lazy and all that following seems like too much work. It's whatevs though. I just let these kids have their fun and, if something important or super funny happens somewhere or there's some awesome pic I have to see, I'll eventually see it on Facebook. :p

What I am still confused about is that if you ask people what the number one app that is missing from WP8 is, the majority of people will say 'Instagram'. Microsoft is a stakeholder in Facebook, why has this not happened yet? I am sure they must realize that people are begging for this app and since they have a good relationship with the Zuckerberg Inc, I am suprised they have not fitted him with a money hat and announced that this app is coming. I think it would drive sales, especially on the lower end devices like the 620. Teens would be more excited to buy a WP device if they can be connected to all their social networks. Microsoft... get on it...

They own stock in Facebook, very little stock. Zuck isn't exactly a fan of Microsoft, sure he'll take they're money from time to time, but he's more of an apple guy. Hell Facebook couldn't even be bothered to make the "official" Facebook app on Windows Phone! They just allowed Microsoft to build one for them. Trust me Zuck could care less about Windows Phone. I'm sure instagram will arrive eventually, but not for a while.

Actually Facebook owns Instagram. And Microsoft provided alot of the start up capital for Facebook and was the majority share holder prior to the IPO. Facebook uses Bing search, and has many close ties with Microsoft. Where did you get the impression Facebook and Microsoft are at odds?

Topics like this make me feel old. I simply have no comprehension of why anyone would want to post endless pics to some website. I reeeeeallly hope Instagram arrives here soon so that I never have to hear the word again.

Twitter. It sounds like a place for stupid people (I mean... you know what I mean). Twit isn't a good thing. Why is it called "tweeting" or why isn't it called "Tweeter"? "Tweeting"? Is it a site for bird calling enthusiats or maybe sound system enthusiasts?

My point is that, even though it's a weird name, it could sound right if enough people use it. You say Instagram fits and sounds fun, but, if I didn't know it was about pictures, I wouldn't have figured it out from the name because neither "insta-" nor "-gram" imply such a thing.

Instagram... well most of the filters seem to harken back to old "Instamatic" style photos. Hence the "Insta" part of the name. Gram... well, like a telegram or from Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/-gram:

-gram

a combining form extracted from telegram, used in the formation of compound words that have the general sense “message, bulletin.
So... Instagram works perfectly in my view.

Tell me again what Molome means (besides it sounds like a word you are trying to pronounce with marbles in your mouth).

Twitter and tweets. Ya, I hated it, but at the same time, I saw it as catchy. People immediately loved saying "tweets" (I don't use twitter or do tweeting either)... Talking heads on TV were absolutely giddy when saying the word "tweet". So that obvioiusly worked.

Try and find me a definition of molome... or.. how about "Molo Me".. look up Molo in the urban dictionary and tell me what you find...

Ya, I just looked everywhere to try and figure out where the name came from. I saw the Spanish definition and couldn't figure out what that had to do with an "Instagram" type app. I mean, the name just sounds bad, so I was hoping there was some uber cool definition of the word. eh anyway...

Molome is great. I deleted my Instragram account in January when Facebook decided to change the privacy policies. I switched to Molome on my android. They recently added sharing capabilities to instagram and have stated that they are an instagram friend, not a competitor. Plus the owl is adorable.